French Open: Ruthless Rafael Nadal rolls on at Roland Garros

Spain's Rafael Nadal reacts during his singles second round match against Argentina's Guido Pella in Paris yesterday. Pic/AFP

Rafael Nadal stormed into the French Open third round yesterday as he continued his bid for an 11th title by sweeping aside Argentinian Guido Pella 6-2, 6-1, 6-1. The top-seed had struggled past lucky loser Simone Bolelli in the first round, but was back to his best as he raced through the last two sets in just 65 minutes.

Nadal will next face home favourite and his old junior rival Richard Gasquet, whom he has beaten 15 times from as many meetings in professional tennis. "I'm very happy, I played more aggressive than in the first round, so I'm very happy with that," said Nadal.

Cilic, Thiem win
Meanwhile, title challengers Marin Cilic and Dominic Thiem struggled into the Last 32. Third seed Cilic reached the third round for the eighth time with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-7 3/7), 7-5 win over Polish qualifier and World No. 188 Hubert Hurkacz.

Former US Open champion Cilic, who reached the quarter-finals in Paris last year, will face Steve Johnson of the United States for a place in the Last 16. However, it was a roller-coaster of a performance by newly-wed Cilic who cracked 48 winners but also 52 unforced errors. He also squandered a match point in the third set. "I was in control but played a poor third set so I had to start all over again," said Cilic, 29 after his 20th match win of the season.

Seventh-seeded Thiem, a semi-finalist in 2016 and 2017, racked up his 31st win of the year. The Austrian, the only man to beat World No 1 Rafael Nadal on clay this year, saw off Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a match which had been suspended overnight after the third set.

Shapovalov knocked out
Next up for Thiem is Italy's Matteo Berrettini. Highly-rated Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov was knocked out by Germany's Maximilian Marterer 5-7, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5, 6-4. World No. 70 Marterer, 22, has now reached the third round at successive Grand Slam events and will face Estonian lucky loser Jurgen Zopp.

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